


I'll always be there for you

by lady_darkstreak



Category: Jak and Daxter
Genre: Complete, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 14:40:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1432207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lady_darkstreak/pseuds/lady_darkstreak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life wasn’t fair. But sometimes some things worked out and there were moments of happiness. These moments are what makes everything worth it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll always be there for you

Daxter wanted to lie down, or faint. Either way just stopping and not doing anything seemed like a really good idea. He collapsed to his knees but as much as his body screamed at him to finish falling he refused to hit the ground entirely.

It wasn’t over yet.

Kor was dead, that much was sure. Even the biggest of ugly metalheads couldn’t survive being blasted into a million bits. The funny thing was that ultimately, Kor had killed himself. In an effort to flee from battle, he’d tried going through the rift gate only to smash head first into the rings surrounding it. Not only did the brute explode on impact, but the rift gate did as well. Gold rings came crashing down to earth, shattering like glass and just like that it was gone.

The rift rider Keira had made was a pointless pile of scrap now with no rift to ride through. That was going to upset her when she got here. Daxter felt like screaming with the unfairness of it too. That was their only way home. The only way to get back to Sandover and away from this hell called Haven.

But all of that would have to wait. The battle had been... messy. While Jak had done what he did best and blasted the ever loving fuck out of Kor’s face, Daxter had been trying his best to keep all the other metalheads away from his friend. He’d been bitten, scratched and stung so many times that he was numb. But even for his efforts, Jak still got swarmed too many times. Deep gashes covered him, his clothes torn to pieces and armour was missing. He’d somehow found his goggles because Daxter could see them hanging from one of the straps on his jacket, probably meant to have been tucked into his belt but the mark had been missed completely.

How Jak was even still standing was a mystery. But just because Kor was dead, didn’t mean it was over. Stray metalheads could still be lurking around, even though they had fled when Kor exploded that didn’t mean they wouldn’t come back. But more importantly, there was the Kid to see to.

Somehow safe and unharmed throughout it all, the Kid was closer to Daxter and he seemed unsure of what the hell to do now. Daxter sympathized. He didn’t really know either, only that he shouldn’t listen to his body and pass out. Jak approached the Kid and knelt down, hugging him like it was some kind of lifeline. It was trippy seeing Jak hug.. well himself, and Daxter opened his mouth to say something but Jak’s words stopped him dead even though they weren’t directed at him. 

“stay.. stay with Daxter. He’ll keep you safe..”

Wait. Why did that sound like a goodbye?

Jak looked up at him then with a smile Daxter hated. It was too soft, too happy and it somehow dared to say goodbye. Deep blue eyes closed and the hero collapsed to his side, crumpling like strings cut on a puppet.

 

\--

 

What happened next was not remembered well. Daxter’s own mind shut most of it down to knowing what happened, but not being able to clearly remember it. He probably should have been glad for it, but it was hard to be happy about anything that involved your best friend never waking up again.

Jak was buried in Haven forest with a simple headstone that had an inscription that basically said he was great hero who given his life for the people of Haven. Daxter never bothered to read it more than once. It was too fake to him, like it was written by someone who’d never met Jak and was just trying to say nice things because they were told to.

Daxter hated everything that people said during and after the funeral. There was a citywide day of mourning that Daxter was sure was some kind of joke. These people who had called his best friend “eco freak” and “monster” only now, after it was too late, thought to thank Jak for everything he’d done? The only thing that held Daxter together at all was the fact that he had the Kid to look after. If he bothered to think about how time travel had messed things up then really, Jak was still here. Daxter still had his friend only he was younger, at the right age for this time.

But it wasn’t Jak. It didn’t matter that it was the same person, what mattered is that this Jak wasn’t the Jak that Daxter had grown up with. He wasn’t the same Jak that he’d chased gulls on the beach with or wrestled in the shallows of the lagoon, it wasn’t the Jak he spent sleepless nights with counting stars or the Jak that Daxter had broken out of the prison.

Daxter was going to protect him and care for him and make sure that he was never touched by dark eco, Daxter was determined that this Jak would get the life he deserved. Daxter couldn’t see him as the same guy he’d known, the guy he’d buried, but he was damned well going to still be his friend. No one would get in the way of that.

No one except Jak’s father.

Daxter had known the Jak was the rightful ruler of Haven, but given his age the council stepped up to run the city in his place. But with a little more digging Daxter found out that the pervious ruler was still alive and was king of another city, Spargus. Meaning that Jak still had a father. A father that had sent his best man into Haven to find him. When Sig seen little Jak he went ballistic in the best way a huge guy him could. Hugging Jak and saying how glad his father was going to be to see him home. It was at that point Daxter had to step in and between them, the whole story was worked out.

Sig couldn’t seem to get over that the renegade Jak was the time skipped version of little Jak and Daxter got the full story of how Jak, or rather Mar, was stolen from his father all because of that stupid precursor stone and that his father, Damas was still looking for him. Plans were made and agreed on and the next day all three of them were heading for Spargus.

 

To say that Jak was reunited with his father and everything ended well would be a great way to end a fairy tale, but reality was not so kind.

 

\--

 

“you’re mad.”

“please just listen to me. Yu have to know the truth, all of it. Jak would have wanted you to know.”

“enough of these lies!” Damas roared. “you expect me to believe all this nonsense about time travel and other worlds. That my son fought the metalhead leader and died?” he pointed to the child clinging to his leg. “this is my son. He barely five years old. He is not that renegade that was pumped with dark eco in the Barron’s prison, he cannot do all the thing you are trying to claim. Time travel is not possible. I thank you for finding Mar, but now you can get out of my city and never come back.”

Daxter’s ears fell low, feeling helpless in trying to get this formidable man just to understand that he wasn’t making this up. “please, there are others that can tell you. It’s all true. Sig.. Sig can tell you as well. If you’d just listen an-”

“SILENCE!” he made some motion with his hand. “guards! Get this man out of my sight and out of my city!”

Daxter knew when he couldn’t win. He alone would never be enough to share Jak’s story. Maybe others could convince the desert king, but he wasn’t the one to do it. When the guards shoved him ahead and told him to walk on, he didn’t fight it. He’d done his best. Jak was where he belonged and most importantly, he was safe. Really, that was all that mattered.

Something small and solid ran into him, clutching at his pants. Daxter looked down and found those bright eyes staring up at him with the sadness and confusion only a child could show. He didn’t understand everything that was going on, but he knew that Daxter was leaving and that he might never see him again.

Daxter glanced at the king, sure that Damas would be ripping Jak away from him so the guards could finish kicking him out. But the king stood silent, apparently Daxter would at least be allowed to say goodbye.

Life wasn’t fair. It had taken his family, turned him furry for a few years, made him survive alone for two of them, it made him fight a war and all the monsters that came with it. It took away his best friend and the only person he’d ever really cared about, only to give him back for a sort time so it could take everything away again and leave him on his own. He had no home, no family, no sweetheart to hold and nothing to claim. He might as well walk into the desert and let himself be lost to the sands forever.

He knelt and hugged Jak. “it’s okay, I promised I’d always look after you. And I did. Your home now. You don’t need me anymore…. Goodbye Jak.” He quickly stood and headed for the door, trying to ignore the heavy weight in his heart.

He never heard the small voice whisper his name.

 

\--

 

The lantern cast a soft glow on everything, lighting up a small area as Daxter walked. It was dark but the night had never bothered the former ottsel, he found peace in it as the world slept on.

Jak’s grave was silent and unchanged, grass grew higher in places and leaves littered the ground. The lanterns light reflected off the broken lens of Jak’s old goggles from where they lay around the cold stone. Daxter hadn’t been here in months, he was trying to carve out a life for himself in Haven. He took over the Hip Hog and renamed it the Naughty Ottsel, with Tess’ help the bar was staring to see customers again and it was giving Daxter something to do with his life. Even though every day he missed going on another adventure and risking his life.

He sat crossed-legged before the grave in silence. Not even sure why he kept coming here when it only made him think of things he didn’t want to think about and ponder on all the regrets in his life. But after a few hours the bad gave way to good, and fond memories came back. Reminding him that this was why he spent time here. Not just to reflect on what-ifs, but to remember all the good as well.

The was a sound and out of the darkness, two figures approached him. The gleam of precursor armour was instantly recognised and Daxter hid away the blade that had made its way into his hand. The shock of seeing the Spargan king wasn’t dampened by his son running at the redhead and all but tackling him into a hug.

“Jak.. Damas? Wha..”

“I owe you an apology, Daxter. Many of them, I think.” The king looked uncomfortable and his words were unsure. “I realise its late,” he glanced into the darkness of Haven forest. “in more ways than one. But I know what you were trying to tell me is true. All of it. And Mar wouldn’t wait. He missed you.”

Daxter smiled and couldn’t stop. Gathering Jak in his lap he offered the king a patch of grass to sit.

“no. thank you. I don’t think I’m ready to look at..” he made a vague motion. “that. Yet.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll be waiting by the transport at the forest gates. Bring Mar with you when your.. yep.” He turned and briskly strolled away. Trusting Daxter with his son, and so much more.

 

Life wasn’t fair. But sometimes some things worked out and there were moments of happiness. These moments are what makes everything worth it.

 

End


End file.
